Top tips:
- Don’t just tweet
- Be coherent
- Hit three targets with one shot
- Come at your enemies correct
Those are the big takeaways from Mayor Reed’s masterclass in elected official whining fighting with the media, following Maria Saporta’s latest column. Unwilling to be content with hating on Saporta, Reed had to ensure Cathy Woolard and Ceasar Mitchell stay in their lane as they vie to succeed Reed at City Hall.
in 775 blistering words Reed, ahem, Reed’s press secretary (right) told Saporta: “you come at the king, you best not miss.”
A few choice highlights:
“Saporta has continually published inaccurate, hastily-thrown together blog posts that fail to meet the editorial standards of our city’s major publications. Saporta attempts to portray herself as a standard-bearer in Atlanta’s civic discourse, but the constant mistakes and slanted viewpoint undermine her. A telling example is her story on the resignation of the former CEO of Invest Atlanta, which was retracted by the Atlanta Business Chronicle…
(emphasis added)
Instead, Saporta insinuates, with great condescension, that Mayor Reed needs to ‘let it go.’ Mayor Reed was elected to two four-year terms, totaling eight years, not seven and a half. He intends to serve until the last hour of the last day, as successful administrations do.
And the next Mayor hasn’t been elected yet. Saporta quotes two candidates for Mayor in her column: Cathy Woolard and Ceasar Mitchell. Woolard has not held public office since she resigned her seat on the Atlanta City Council and was rejected by DeKalb County voters. She now sits at five percent in the polls and, four months from election day, has no legitimate path to becoming Mayor. Council President Mitchell, after running for Mayor for the past ten years, sits at nine percent polling in this year’s race for Mayor. Notably, he ran for Mayor in 2009 against Reed and quit that race.
They, and other candidates, would do well to recognize a few key facts: There is only one Mayor at a time….
I think Mayor Reed has done many great things as mayor (in addition to many questionable practices).
I think his need to constantly affirm the legitimacy of his mayorship and need to bully the media make it hard to defend him.
Much like 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue’s resident.
Perhaps they should get a beer. They’d get along like peas and carrots.